Redefine News

It is easy to understand how so many people's reputations are damaged on the Internet. The Internet, for better or worse, is basically free of regulations and policing. This anarchic environment is given to being exploited by misanthropes and trouble-makers. The Internet is just a tool for people to use--even if some of those people are...tools. Like any other tool, people can use the Internet to do good things, like create helpful charities or social networking sites, or to bad thing, like email-scam or online libel.

Why does the Internet allow for things like online libel to occur with such frightening frequency? It can be attributed, in large part, to the lack of policing of the Internet and the guaranteed anonymity that the web supplies to any and all commenter who desire it. This can be an unsettling combination as it allows for trouble makers to say anything they like without fear of repercussions, either in the form of legal punishment of having their names attached to lies. They can spread the most vicious lies without concern for how it will affect their own reputations. In the real world if a man makes a libelous statement--even if he doesn't get taken to court--his reputation will suffer because he will be known as a liar or spreader of false information.. They can spread the most vicious lies without concern for how it will affect their own reputations. In the real world if a man makes a libelous statement--even if he doesn't get taken to court--his reputation will suffer because he will be known as a liar or spreader of false information.. They can spread the most vicious lies without concern for how it will affect their own reputations. In the real world if a man makes a libelous statement--even if he doesn't get taken to court--his reputation will suffer because he will be known as a liar or spreader of false information.